A UN military vehicle struck a land mine Sunday in the volatile Kidal region of northern Mali, killing a Chadian soldier and wounding four other peacekeepers, a spokesman for the UN mission in the West African country said.

A suicide attack at a U.N. camp in northern Mali killed four peacekeepers on Wednesday, the country's peacekeeping mission said, raising concerns of worsening security as government officials warn about the possible return of Islamic extremists to the region.

A Mauritanian website says a terrorist group active in West Africa has threatened to target the interests of "France and her allies" in retaliation for France's military intervention in Mali last year.

A website frequently used by jihadists published a statement from al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb in which it claims responsibility for the slaying of two French radio journalists who were kidnapped and killed just outside the northern Malian city of Kidal last Saturday.

Two veteran French journalists kidnapped and killed in northern Mali were shot to death, French authorities said Sunday, as questions emerged about how the gunmen managed to carry out the attack near a town where both French troops and UN forces are based.